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In the Second World War some of the signing scientists had been members of the Uranverein, a nuclear research project of the Nazi regime. The war ended with the nuclear destruction of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States.
After World War II the Cold War began. Germany was divided, and both German states were frontier states in the Cold War. After the Korean War (1950 - 1953), West Germany founded its own army, the Bundeswehr, in 1955. There were many protests against the remilitarisation of West Germany. A few months after the foundation of the West German army, the Eastern German state founded an army, too.

In 1953 the hydrogen bomb was invented. A short time later both superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, had a so-called overkill potential. In the whole world and especially in the frontier states of the Cold War there was a great fear of nuclear war at that time.

The undersigned nuclear researchers are deeply concerned with the plans to equip the Bundeswehr with nuclear weapons. Some of us have raised our concerns a few months ago with the appropriate federal minister. Today the debate on this question has become general knowledge. The undersigned therefore feel the requirement to speak up about facts known to experts, but which seem to be inadequately known to the public.

1) Tactical nuclear weapons have the same destructive effect as normal atomic bombs. They are "tactical" only insofar as they are applied not only to civilian residences, but also to ground troops. Every single tactical nuclear weapon has a similar effect to the first atom bomb which destroyed Hiroshima. Since tactical nuclear weapons are available in significant numbers their destructive effect is on the whole much larger. They are only "small" in comparison to recently developed bombs, principally the hydrogen bomb.

2) There is no natural limit for the development of life-threatening effects of strategic nuclear weapons. Today a tactical nuclear weapon can destroy a small city, and a hydrogen bomb can render an entire region such as the Ruhr Valley uninhabitable. Already today, one can probably wipe out the entire population of West Germany with the radioactivity from H-bombs. We know of no technical means to protect a large population from this threat.

We realise how difficult it is to foresee the political consequences of these facts. Since we are apolitical, no one expects us to do so. Our profession, i.e. pure science and its application, through which we bring many young people into our fold, leaves us with the responsibility for the potential effects of these actions. Therefore we cannot remain silent to all political issues. We align ourselves with the freedom that the Western world represents against Communism. We cannot deny the fear of the H-bomb contributes to the maintenance of peace in the whole world, and freedom in part of the world. However this form of peace and freedom is in the long term untenable, and the collapse of this situation is potentially deadly. We have no expertise to make concrete political suggestions to the Superpowers. We believe that a small country such as West Germany is best protected, and world peace most assisted when nuclear weapons of any type are banned. In any case, none of the undersigned are prepared to participate in the creation, testing or deployment of any type of nuclear weapon. At the same time we feel it is extremely important that we continue to work together on the peaceful development of nuclear energy.